Turkish court to decide fate of Kurdish party
source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i1sGpJn6U5theH2vbAfamMe3krng
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ANKARA — Turkey's constitutional court will begin final deliberations next week on whether to outlaw the country's main Kurdish party on charges of links to separatist rebels.
The court said on its web site it would convene Tuesday to decide the fate of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), a process that Could take several days or weeks.
Turkey's chief prosecutor initiated the case in 2007, arguing the DTP had become a "focal point" of activities against national unity through its links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has led a bloody 25-year insurgency in the southeast.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community.
The court will make its ruling against a backdrop of a government drive to expand Kurdish freedoms in a bid to erode popular support for the PKK and encourage rebels to end the insurgency, which has claimed about 45,000 lives.
The DTP, which holds 21 seats in the 550-member parliament, says it has "no organic links" with the PKK.
However, it refuses to brand the PKK a terrorist group, party members often uphold the rebels and their jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, and PKK banners are a fixture at DTP rallies.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i1sGpJn6U5theH2vbAfamMe3krng
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/media/ALeqM5iVEvAc3y-YotlY7xYDrA00OogkMA?si...
ANKARA — Turkey's constitutional court will begin final deliberations next week on whether to outlaw the country's main Kurdish party on charges of links to separatist rebels.
The court said on its web site it would convene Tuesday to decide the fate of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), a process that Could take several days or weeks.
Turkey's chief prosecutor initiated the case in 2007, arguing the DTP had become a "focal point" of activities against national unity through its links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has led a bloody 25-year insurgency in the southeast.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community.
The court will make its ruling against a backdrop of a government drive to expand Kurdish freedoms in a bid to erode popular support for the PKK and encourage rebels to end the insurgency, which has claimed about 45,000 lives.
The DTP, which holds 21 seats in the 550-member parliament, says it has "no organic links" with the PKK.
However, it refuses to brand the PKK a terrorist group, party members often uphold the rebels and their jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, and PKK banners are a fixture at DTP rallies.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i1sGpJn6U5theH2vbAfamMe3krng
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/media/ALeqM5iVEvAc3y-YotlY7xYDrA00OogkMA?si...
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